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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v CANADIENSMay 16, 2014Michel TherrienMONTREAL, QUEBEC: Practice Day Q. You started out with coaching Montreal as your first job. People talked about that as a great learning experience for you and Alain and Claude. But what did you think that first stint with Montreal did for you, and when you were fired after that, did you think that you would ever be in position where you'd have a chance to be in a second Stanley Cup Final? COACH THERRIEN: Well, you never know about the future. You know what? We learned a lot when we were young and that goes with experience. Having a lot to deal with you guys is a big part of our job. But you know what, it goes through a process. It goes with experience. Whatever, it's myself, Alain, Claude, we were young coaches at the time, and we learned a lot. The time we spent and we started in Montreal, and myself and Alain, we almost took the same route, went back to the minors and went back to the Junior and American League. So I'm glad of the success he got in Vancouver and New York. But that was a great learning experience as a young coach to start in Montreal. Q. One of the words you used throughout the first two rounds was confidence. What is your level of confidence going into this series? COACH THERRIEN: Well, any team that's part of the final four gets confidence, and that was a good accomplishment for our team to beat Boston. But I have to tell you something; that was a great accomplishment for them to come back a 3‑1 deficit and play the Pittsburgh Penguins. They're coming in, and they're really confident. So I pay a lot of attention to their game, especially their last three games. They were phenomenal. This is a good hockey team. They've got depth up front. They play a fourth line. They've got a solid defenseman, and they've got a great goalie. So this is a really good hockey team that we're facing right now. Q. Sounds a lot like your team. COACH THERRIEN: We're a group that accomplished something pretty big to beat the best team in the league, but you know what? This is going to be for our group, this is going to be a hell of a challenge to play the New York Rangers. Q. Sorry to ask you to repeat this, but what will the factors be to play into your decision to reincorporate Alex Galchenyuk. COACH THERRIEN: First of all, he's not played for six weeks or almost six weeks. So that was great news for us today that he was capable to practice with the team. This is another step, and he's going to need some more practice with the team to make sure that he's in the best shape physically, mentally about performing in the playoffs. But that's good news. Eventually he'll certainly get a shot because he's an important player for our team, but I was excited to see Alex back with the guys today. Q. Knowing Alain the way you do, I'm just wondering what you think of him saying today you guys are the favorites and he's not been able to find a single weakness on your team? COACH THERRIEN: That's why I know him so well. But you know what? The favorite, that's a media game, because you go in the New York paper, and they're the favorite. You go in the Montreal paper, we're the favorite. So that's your job. I'm not paying too much attention to those things. My only focus is to make sure today that we met with our players and it's about tomorrow night or tomorrow afternoon's games. This is our philosophy. This is not going to change. So we understand that we need a really, really good hockey team. You're looking in the standings and there's a 4‑point difference between us and them, so they're a good hockey team. I pay attention to the last three games and they showed a lot of character. This is a good hockey team, like I said before. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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